New Darkness
by Mandalore the Insignificant
Summary: During the Great Galactic War, a forgotten Sith Lord regains his power and begins a conquest of the galaxy. The seemingly insignificant crew of the tramp freighter Centurion 12 are tasked with destroying this new foe. R&R please!


Chapter One: Rebirth

Korriban

In the well lit center of an otherwise dark room, a large, red body lay on a stone slab, a significantly smaller figure standing to the side, chanting and making strange gestures in the air. The large body in front of him would occasionally twitch, let out a moan, or even cry out, seemingly in pain. This seemed to go on for hours and seconds at the same time, neither individual able to determine the time in the dungeon.

Finally, the chanting figure dropped his arms, staggered over to a nearby chair, and dropped limply, barely able to hold himself into the chair. Weakly, he looked at his creation, just starting to stir on the table. His experiment sat up, shook its head, and started to look around the room, slowly. He glanced at his hands, moving his fingers around, clenching and unclenching his fists. He then looked to the slumped over figure in the chair.

Weakly, the man tried to raise his hand in salute. "My Lord Zeht... is it... complete?"

"We shall see, Hephatsus." With that, he held out his hand, and from the darkness came a katana, the blade of the purest white. Letting his hand familiarize itself with the blade, he gave it a few test swings before letting his new body become accustomed to his famous, or rather, infamous, blade. He held out his hand, and the room was suddenly lit up, revealing a massive room, filled with war droids of every kind. With the activation of the lights, the droids started to power up as well. The whine of hundreds of motors, servos and all other manner of mechanical creations, the hiss of compressed air releases, and the _clack-clack_ metal shod feet slowly coming into position.

With a blur of motion, Zeht dashed at the nearest droid, cleanly cleaving it in half before it even registered the movement. Barely pausing, he dropped low and charge to the next droid in the line. Having watched it's companion drop to the floor, sparking, it quickly calculated it's odds of survival. In the span of a few milliseconds, is recognized the futility of any attack and started a series of shut-downs and failures that would ultimately end in a fiery explosion. Being an assassination model, this was a common command issued in a situation where the droid felt it could not complete its objective otherwise.

Zeht closed on his target, but a slight tug from the Force caused him to pause mid swing, and quickly throw up a barrier. A massive blast rolled over the invisible barrier, engulfing a 10 foot radius if flaming fluids and shrapnel. Grinning, he turned and felt a sudden drain as numerous blaster bolts impacted with his Force barrier. Still grinning, he concentrated, pulling the field closer to his body, creating an almost impenetrable armor hovering right above his skin. He moved slowly then, getting a feel for the subtle curves and lines of his new body.

"Incredible!" He shouted, laughing. More fire poured into him, dancing over his finely muscled body, deflecting into the walls and floor around him. He brought up one hand and let loose a furious stream of concentrated dark energy. Bolts of lightening streaked from his fingers to several nearby droids, frying their circuits. "Incredible!" he repeated, drawing more of his emotions to his core.

Suddenly, Zeht started to feel the effects of over use of the force. His arms felt weaker, and a strange feeling across his body, as if his skin was aging rapidly. Snarling, he let the flow of dark energy slow to a trickle. He quickly dispatched the remaining droids and stalked back to the stone slab where the exhausted human was barely able to keep himself up in his seat.

"What... what happened... my lord?" Hephastus's voice was barely more than a whisper.

"I do not know, but I will soon find the answers." He sheathed his sword and quickly walked out of the massive room and into a smaller room filled with glowing screen and walls full of books, scrolls and manuscripts. He skipped through these, knowing his answers could not be found here.

At last, he came to a pedestal in the center of the room with a glowing red pyramid perched atop it. Carefully, Zeht reached out with the force and activated the ancient holocron. The glow of the pyramid intensified, and it seemed as if all the warmth in the room disappeared. The massive Massassi Sith Lord lowered himself to the ground, adopting a meditative pose. He turned his focus to the artifact in front of him, and waited.

With a sudden flash, the holocon's gatekeeper appeared. The grotesque image floating in the center of the room looked around for a moment, as if trying to recall where it was. Then it's gaze settled on the kneeling figure at its feet.

"Ah, so it was successful, my apprentice. Why then, have you called me forth?" Darth Aneddu's shriveled lips pulled themselves back in a pale imitation of a smile.

"Enough of your games! For a lifetime I toiled beneath you! Now I want answers. What have I done wrong! I can feel my power being limited somehow. With my knowledge and this body, I should be able to split this planet in have! And yet I can hardly keep a force storm under control!" Zeht rose from his position, furious with the apparition before him.

The decaying corpse floating before the powerful Sith lord let out a hoarse laugh, mocking his student. "You think I would just give you the power of eternal life? You must be worthy of such power, you fool! Such is the way of the Sith! The strong survive and thrive, and the weak are cast aside to rot!"

"I've heard this all before you wretched creature! And what good did your philosophy do you? Where is the Great Darth Aneddu now! Stuck on some primitive backwater! You are the fool!" With a final roar of rage, the hulking Sith Lord grabbed the glowing holocron and crushed it. The last he saw of the gatekeeper, it was laughing.


End file.
